I can't remember a time when I wasn't in church, a part of this thing we call religion. Because I have had such an involvement with the traditional church growing up I feel I have been so shaped by my experiences that my relationship with God is one that is truly genuine...a far cry from the obligatory relationship I "boasted" for the better part of my 23 years.
I was one of those kids...yes, the WWJD bracelet wearing, Five Iron Frenzy album owning, See You at the Pole attending, youth group kids just because I didn't know any better. Growing up in a small town with a church on every corner you're either a youth group kid, or one of the ones singled out by them for the purpose of "friendship evangelism". I was the former...a young, ignorant kid whose small town mentality was the product of a tiny Baptist church.
However, I didn't just grow up to repeat the cycle of a spiritual life steeped in tradition as my parents, and their parents before them. That spirituality seemed so dead...empty...hypocritical.
My view of the traditional church and religion in general was one that needed to be refined. Unfortunately that change came through hurt...both to myself and to others.
When I was eighteen my youth pastor came out of the closet. This however, was not the issue...it was the response of his congregation, his church family. He was literally whisked away from his home at night where he was admitted to a "recovery program" for ministers with "sexual problems". The entire scene was like something from a memoir of a Holocaust survivor. He was made to feel ashamed of who he was, isolated from the rest of the world by people he trusted...his own church family. This was my first step to realizing that the church was not the perfect place I imagined it to be.
However, this was not the closest the imperfect church would hit me. In my own attempts at ministry I have been personally hurt by an ignorant congregation, incidents far too personal to record here...attacked instead of encouraged for pushing the bounds of traditional ministry in order to reach out to those outcasts who needed to hear a message that someone truly loved them the most.
Through Revolution I have found my place...a place for those people who have been hurt by the church. People who traditional ministry cannot reach because they have been jaded to traditional ideas. Revolution is a place for the broken to finally heal because of the so important concept of grace. A place where grace is not only talked about, but practiced. Perhaps because of this we can put our hurt and jadedness aside and return to the real message of Christ.
I hope you'll join me...
Grace and Praises Be.
Stephanie